By Ben Levisohn

Each week, I’ll highlight the best performing emerging-markets single country exchange-traded funds, using the most heavily traded for each nation. Frontier markets are not included–yet.

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The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF (EEM) fell 4.8% this week, its sixth consecutive week of losses and the longest losing steak since June 2012–and we have Ben Bernanke to thank for it. And the People’s Bank of China. Heck, it was as if China and the U.S. decided to play the roles of the Hart Foundation’sJim “The Anvil” Neidhart and Bret “The Hitman” Hart, with the emerging markets playing the hapless wrestler getting hit with a megaphone.

Russia was the winner in this week of no winners. Maybe because it was already beaten down? Maybe because no one’s really long its stock market, so no one could sell? Maybe because a weak ruble could help it’s economy? Whatever the reason, it earned the top spot this week, a dubious honor. The Market Vectors Russia ETF has dropped 17% this year.

Malaysia’s consumer-price index rose 1.8% in May, above forecasts for a 1.7% increase. The iShares MSCI Malaysia Index ETF has gained 1.3% this year, the only emerging-market ETF among those I follow still in positive territory.

About Emerging Markets Daily

Emerging markets have been synonymous with growth, but the outlook for individual nations is constantly changing. Countries from Brazil and Russia to Turkey face challenges including infrastructure bottlenecks, credit issues and political shifts. Barrons.com’s Emerging Markets Daily blog analyzes news, data and research out of emerging markets beyond Asia to help readers navigate the investment landscape.

Barron’s veteran Dimitra DeFotis has been blogging about emerging market investing since traveling to India and Turkey. Based in New York, she previously wrote for Barron’s about U.S. equity investing, including cover stories and roundtables on energy themes. Dimitra was among the first digital journalists at the Chicago Tribune and started her career as a police reporter at the Daily Herald in the Chicago suburbs. Dimitra holds degrees from the University of Illinois and Columbia University, where she was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in the business and journalism schools. She studies multiple languages and photography.